Tracing Quotations
Mohandas Gandhi? Corita Kent? Nirmal Kumar Bose? David Guy Powers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The experience of hunger causes one’s motivations to focus on the need to acquire food. The following saying reflects this single-mindedness: God himself dare not appear to a hungry person except in the form of bread. This remark has been …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: To the Hungry, God Can Only Appear as Bread and Butter”
A. A. Milne? Winnie the Pooh? Tom Phillips? Walter Kerr? Jack Valenti? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: The following poignant and memorable quotation about love and companionship appears on many websites: If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: May You All Live Forever. May I Live Forever Less A Day”
A. A. Milne? Lord Peter Wimsey? Dorothy L. Sayers? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: A. A. Milne is famous for authoring children’s books that bring to life anthropomorphic characters such as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. Milne also composed essays aimed at adults, and he once criticized thinkers who recited quotations instead of …
Edgar Bergen? Charlie McCarthy? Florian ZaBach? Walter Winchell? Earl Wilson? George Gobel? Sam Levenson? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: During my younger years when I was slow to perform a boring task my parents sometimes scolded me by proclaiming a cliché about hard work. Eventually, I came across a funny riposte: It might be true …
Satchel Paige? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The U.S. baseball pitcher Leroy Satchel Paige was proud of his inventive style and expert control. When accused of breaking rules he replied with a marvelous remark about throwing pitches that had not been seen in a generation. Would you please help me to find a citation? Reply …
George M. Cohan? P. T. Barnum? Mae West? Elinor Glyn? Babe Ruth? Damon Runyon? James J. Johnston? Charley Murphy? Max Schmeling? Walter Winchell? Oscar Wilde? Samuel Johnson? Ed Sullivan? Question for Quote Investigator: A person once planned to write an article or book containing derogatory material about a celebrity. The unruffled response of the celebrity …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: Say Anything You Like About Me, But Spell My Name Right”
Jean Racine? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: The 17th-century French dramatist Jean Racine once presented a scenario in which a powerful emperor wished to split apart two lovers. The emperor ordered one lover to banish the other without revealing that the rejection was occurring under coercion. The emperor further stated that he would hide and …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Will Hear Those Glances That You Think Are Silent”
Don Marquis? Christopher Morley? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Crafting a bright witticism or a clever aphorism is a difficult task especially for a writer who is facing a tight deadline. One strategy is described as follows: Stroke a platitude until it purrs like an epigram. This remark has been ascribed to Don Marquis who …
Charlie Sheen? Don Simpson? Dashiell Hammett? Adela Rogers St. Johns? Clark Gable? Charles Fleming? Stephen J. Cannell? Susan Kelly? Germaine Greer? Ian Ayres? Joy Fielding? Jack Nicholson? Question for Quote Investigator: Attractive, wealthy, and famous people sometimes obtain intimate services via the underground commercial market. This behavior is surprising because these individuals should be able …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Don’t Pay Them To Come Over; I Pay Them To Go Away”
Thomas Hardy? John Ruskin? William Stearns Davis? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: Comedy and tragedy are sometimes intertwined. The prominent English novelist Thomas Hardy has received credit for the following remark: Comedy is tragedy, if you only look deep enough. This statement has also been ascribed to the influential English art critic John Ruskin. Would …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: All Comedy Is Tragedy, If You Only Look Deep Enough Into It”